Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Abel Tasman Coastal Track

Having never spent much time in the Golden Bay or Nelson
area, and desperate for a last-ditch attempt at having some summer, I decided
to do the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk in March 2017. I convinced my lovely friend
Lynne to come along with me for the trip. Her accompanying me on an annual
photography mission is becoming somewhat of a tradition, and she has
self-appointed herself as my assistant (or, as she puts it, slave) for these
journeys.

We started our walk at Marahau, heading north. My planning
on this particular trip was not up to my usual standards, and it was only long
after booking our DOC accommodation on the walk that Lynne pointed out that I
had managed to schedule us two days of the hike into one. However, our first
day was definitely the more leisurely of the three we had planned, and we had a
fairly relaxed start. As this trip was first about photography, second about
summer and third about the actual hiking, I figured we would take the easy and
extravagant option, and have our packs carried by water taxi. Given I was
carrying almost 6kg of camera equipment, not having to carry our main gear was
very welcome.

When investigating hiking the Abel Tasman, I found the
information available to be a bit lacking in detail or direction. It’s only
since doing the walk that I have realised that there are almost in unlimited ways
you can arrange your trips in the area, that there is no single obvious “best”
way to do it. You can hike or kayak (or both), skip whole areas, do day trips,
catch boats in or out…. We even came across one group doing the entire track in
a day! However, because of the lack of really clear and concise detail, I
basically shrugged off doing too much investigation and really had no
expectations about what I would see or experience.

Within minutes of leaving Marahau I had stopped to take
photographs. The scenery honestly just blew my mind and exceeded any
expectations I did have. This was obviously helped by the warm, sunny weather
we had. However it soon became apparent that the scenery was destined to just
get better and better. I took a lot of photos on Day 1, and was constantly in
awe of how stunningly beautiful the area was. With having no real time
pressure, we dawdled our way to Anchorage Hut, spending some time just sitting
on the beach at Apple Tree Bay.

A beach in Abel Tasman National Park, near Marahau

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Scenery becoming increasingly more spectacular!

We arrived at Anchorage Hut in the mid afternoon, finding
our packs waiting for us outside the hut and the beach busy with people
enjoying the sunshine. Anchorage Hut ($32 per night) really is something else.
Only a few years old and with a communal area with floor to ceiling windows
looking out over Anchorage Bay, I could see real temptation on coming here and
not ever leaving (probably the exact reason there is a 2-night maximum
restriction). I was also stunned by the flush toilets, the WiFi (provided by
Project Janszoon) and the solar powered charging station for devices.
Seriously, and perhaps unnecessarily, flash.

It was a beautiful sunset out on the beach, which was much
quieter in the evening as the day trippers went home.

Impressive views from Anchorage Hut

Sunset on Anchorage Beach

The next day was the day typically done as 2, which I
condensed into one. Instead of walking Anchorage to Bark Bay Hut, which seems
to be popular, we skipped Bark Bay and went straight to Awaroa Hut. This made
for a 22km day so, after catching sunrise on Anchorage Beach, we got an early
start. Luckily our leaving time coincided with low tide so we could take the
low tide route rather than the longer high tide option shortly after leaving
the hut. We enjoyed a short stop at Bark Bay, lamenting on how beautiful it was
(from above, it completely looked like a tropical island) and what a shame it
was that we needed to move on so quickly.

Sunrise at Anchorage Beach

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Golden sands and blue skies of Abel Tasman Coastal Track

The section from Bark Bay to Awaroa Hut was a little more
challenging, with a couple of steep climbs and long walks on the sandy beaches.
As we neared Awaroa Hut, it became apparent that my lack of careful planning
had unintended consequences once again. Due to the siting of Awaroa Hut at the
end of a long tidal estuary, packs transported by water taxi were dropped at Awaroa
Lodge (a Peppers Resort). What I didn’t realise was that was a 45 minute walk
away from Awaroa Hut, which meant we had to double pack for that period of
time. On the flip side, while we waited for the tide to retreat enough to take
the shorter low tide route to the hut, we were able to enjoy pizza and beer at
Awaroa Lodge. After 22km in the hot sun, a pizza and Corona really couldn’t
taste much better.

Beautiful Bark Bay Estuary

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The almost tropical waters of Bark Bay

After our dinner, we made the 45 minute onward journey to
Awaroa Hut. It’s nowhere near as flash as Anchorage, feeling much more like a
true DOC hut than the former. It was a very busy, full night at the hut, though
Lynne and I spent some time taking sunset photos down in the estuary.

Sunset at Awaroa Inlet, Abel Tasman National Park

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Sunset at Awaroa Inlet, Abel Tasman National Park

The following day we had planned to walk out the last
section of track to Totaranui Campsite, but once we realised we would have to
cart our packs back to Awaroa Lodge, then walk back to the hut and then make
the onwards journey to Totaranui, we started rethinking our options. Given the
whole purpose of the trip was 1) photography, 2) sunshine and 3) hiking, we
decided that there was little need to bust a gut trying to make the logistics
happen and that instead, we would just relax. Thanks to the WiFi (!!) we were
able to contact the water taxi company and advise them of a change in pick up
point. We headed back to Awaroa Lodge with our double packs, and we parked
ourselves in a little beach hut made of drift wood for the day. From there we
explored Awaroa Beach (the beach bought back by New Zealanders from private
ownership in 2016 after a crowd funding campaign) and a little of the inlet,
and just completely gave ourselves over to some good kiwi summer relaxation.

Beach Hut, Awaroa Beach

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Awaroa Beach, the beach kiwis bought back from private ownership in 2016

Our water taxi picked us up in the late afternoon, and after
a scenic boat ride back past where we had walked over the previous two days,
our Abel Tasman Coastal Track adventure ended. We were super lucky with the
amazing weather, and the scenery completely exceeded any expectations I had.
Although the track was busy, it didn’t feel over-crowded and we could walk for
long stretches on our own. I would expect that peak time December – February
would be more busy, but March was a great option for hiking the track. I’m
totally intending on bringing my boys here for a couple of days soon as it’s
such an easy, accessible and family friendly Great Walk. Thoroughly
recommended!